Shankless iron technology has been around for decades. One classic old shankless iron from long ago was the Jerry Barber Golden Touch. Fast forward to today (or should I say “Face Forward” to today) where Face Forward Technologies has brought back the shankless concept in their F2 wedges.

The technology

The concept is simple. Place the shaft and hosel behind the face of the club. When entering the impact zone, the club face comes through and makes contact with the ball before the hosel even enters the hitting area. This helps shots out of the rough because the face has already made contact with the ball before the long grass can grab the hosel.

Having the hosel behind the face also prevents the player from shanking the shot. To hit a shank with this club you’d have to come at the ball left handed (for a right handed player). I’ve been dying to give this club to my golf buddy who gets the shanks with his wedges and can’t shake them. Christmas will come early for him this year.

The steel shaft appears to be a rifle shaft, but there’s no label on it and I can’t find any mention of what kind of shaft it is on their web site.

The grip is a custom velvet, perhaps a Winn. Once again no mention of the grip on the F2 web site.

On the course

I’ll admit I was very skeptical about these clubs. My skepticism was half warranted.

The bad half

On full swing shots from the fairway or tight lies I had real problems making decent contact. It looks very strange standing over the club, especially when compared to a standard wedge (see pic). It’s hard to decide where to put the ball in your stance. It’s quite obvious the loft at address is different than a comparable wedge if the shafts are parallel. Finding the correct position for the ball and shot type took some adjustment and experimenting.

I found the club difficult to hit off of tight lies with a full swing and I had a fear of blading the shot. Perhaps it was just the mental aspect of looking down at the unusual club face.

The good half

If you have troubles getting shots out of the sand this may be the club for you. The leading, rounded edge of the face where the hosel would be on a normal club just glides through the sand. You can open this thing up as far as you want in the sand and it will cut right through with ease, sending the ball high in the air with a nice soft landing.

Ever wanted to hit flop shots like Phil Mickelson but couldn’t? This may be the club for you. Once again with the rounded leading inside edge, the club cuts right under the ball. My friends and I on the range were opening the club up so the face was practically parallel to the ground (pancaked) and we were able to take full swings at it without blading it. The shots fly straight up in the air. I took a huge swing with the face opened up all the way and nearly knocked my hat off my head.

Conclusion

The F2 Wedges may be the right club for someone who has trouble with the shanks, flops shots or getting out of the sand.

If you use your 60, 58, 56 from the fairway you may see better results with a regular club.

Higher handicap players would most likely benefit from the F2’s strengths while the lower handicap player may find the F2’s weaknesses to be game breakers.

Very interesting. Don’t think I’ve seen this kind of club before. I definitely have the shanks with my lob wedge. I hate to say it though, but I paid too much for what I got, so I feel like I have to make my CG10 work.